


Unusual Hero

by Amelia Abernathy (authr2b)



Series: Yumikuri Five Prompt Challenge [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, F/F, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-04-19 00:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4726334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/authr2b/pseuds/Amelia%20Abernathy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Historia Reiss has lived in the tower her entire life. Every day blended into another, barely different from the rest. Until a young lady comes across her tower while she is in need. </p><p>Yumikuri Promt 1/5</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unusual Hero

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel! LEt down your hair to me.” Historia pursed her lips as yet another suitor yelled at the open window of her tower. She didn’t know where the name “Rapunzel” had come from but it was extremely vexing. She stood and walked to the window, her long braid dragging behind her. She stood on the tips of her toes to look down at the man that stood at the base of her tower. 

“My princess!” he called, a hand extended to her, “Let down your hair taht I may rescue you!” She cocked an eyebrow even though she knew he couldn’t see. 

“Where are you from?” she asked. 

“I am a duke of your kingdom princess!” she heaved a sigh leaned back inside her tower, then slammed the shutters shut. The duke began to curse up at her as she walked back to her armchair. 

She had been placed up here by her nurse-maid, Kuchel, after she was born to a scullery maid. Kuchel and her son Levi had snuck her out of the palace to escape the wrath of her step-mother, the queen. She was ten when the queen finally made a deal with her father. Historia could be recognized a a royal princess, but only when a noble or knight braved the tall tower to ask for her hand in marriage. Somewhere along the way she became known as Rapunzel, perhaps because of the rampion garden that surrounded the base of her tall tower. 

Kuchel and Levi would occasionally come to her through a hidden tunnel that led to the base of her tower and bring her food and books. Levi would also bring her news from the kingdom and Kuchel would stay to brush her long hair and braid it every so often. 

Of course, the original deal had been that the nobles and knights would have to climb the tower and up to the window to claim her. But one time when Historia and thrown down her braid to Levi- who had forgotten his key to the trap door on her dresser- to let him climb up it, a knight had seen the braid, which was then just long enough to reach down to LEvi’s eye level, and spread the tale that her braid was long enough to climb. From that point on men would yell fer her to toss them her braid. She decided that if she was going to toss down her hair to let a heavy man climb up it then she’d get to screen them herself. 

the trap door opened and Kuchel hauled herself into the room, giving the window a questioning look as the noble below hurled curses upon deaf ears. 

“You’d think that they’d climb up here if they wanted to marry you that badly.” she said with a roll of her eyes. 

“Indeed. did you bring me anything good?” she asked, eyeing the basket. Kuchel chuckled. 

“Still the young girl that loves gifts.” she laughed. “I remember when you were five, you would wait by the door every sunday for Levi to see if he had brought you a present.” Historia smiled. 

“I’d almost forgotten about that.” she said fondly. 

“Well, no matter. I did bring you a book about flowers if you’d like it, if not I’ll give it to LEvi’s wife.” 

“I’ll read it.” Historia said eagerly, walking over to Kuchel to take the baskets that were being placed on the floor. 

“Good, good.” she then eyed Historia’s braid and sighed. 

“Your hair’s gotten longer.” Historia gave an apologetic smile and took the baskets into the small kitchen. “Go ahead and sit down, I’ll get started on your braid.” 

It took them a moment to find the end of the long braid, but eventually they were able to begin the unraveling of what now resembled a rope. 

They had made it about two feet up the braid when they heard cries for help at the bottom of the tower. Historia jumped to her feet and ran to the window, throwing open the shutters to look out. 

She was greeted by the sight of a young woman in a ripped cotton dress, scrambling through the garden. In the distance she would see a bear. she turned to Kuchel, who was holding her braid in one hand. 

“Tie it off!” she ordered, gathering up what hair she could. Kuchel quickly wrapped and tied the hair up and they began tossing out the braid. the girl was pressed against the side of the tower as the bear barreled towards her. it feel in front of her, and she stared. 

“Grab on!” Historia yelled. the young woman obeyed and began to climb while Kuchel and historia pulled on the braid, the girl was halfway up the tower when the bear reached the base and roared up at her. their pace slowed now that the girl was safe, and soon enough they were pulling the young woman through the window.

“Oh my word,” the dark skinned woman breathed, hands over her eyes, “I thought I was dead.” she looked to her side and her eyes popped she propped herself up and stared at the pile of hair that Historia was adding to but pulling the last of her braid through the window. 

“I just climbed your hair?” the girl squeaked, running her fingers through her own loose hair. 

“Yes. and now it’ll be a pain to take care of.” Kuchel muttered darkly, taking the pile in her arms and slowly walking around the room, letting the braid drop from her hands in a spiral. Historia stood on her tip-toes and looked down at the bear. 

“You can stay up here until it goes away, then we’ll let you back down.” she told the girl. “We’ll use a rope this time, but we were in a hurry.” she looked back at the girl. “why are you staring at me?” 

“You have really long hair!” the girl exclaimed as Kuchel began to unravel the braid again. 

“Yes, I do. Kuchel has problems cutting my hair. I think it’s nostalgia.” Kuchel glared at her. 

“Well forgive me if I think your hair is too beautiful to cut. If I had my way Levi would have long hair as well. But he kept sneaking off to his uncle for a haircut.” she said bitterly. historia rolled her eyes at her surrogate mother and held her hand out to the young woman. 

“My name is Historia.” she said with a smile. the young woman stared for a moment before taking her hand. 

“Mine’s Ymir.” she muttered. 

“Lovely to meet you.” 

“Oh, so you use your manners when speaking to strange girls, but not when speaking to me?” Historia heaved a sigh. 

“Forgive us.” she said to Ymir, who shrugged. 

“Better than my mother.” she said dully. 

 

the young woman sat in silence while Kuchel finished up the braid and began brushing Historia’s hair. 

They let her down from the tower after she helped braid the newly brushed hair. the girls said goodbye with big smiles and Kuchel stayed in the tower until she was sure that the young lad was safe on the ground. 

 

Every other day Ymir came to speak with the young princess. Though she had no idea that’s who she was. 

They began to develop feelings for each other, and one day Ymir leaned in to steal a kiss. That evening she slid down Historia’s braid and rode her horse off. Historia touched her lips, deciding that she could happily live with Ymir in the tower, even if it meant she was never recognized as a princess. 

 

One morning, five months after their first kiss, Ymir rode up to find a knight in shining armor on a white horse making his way to the tower. She followed him quietly, recognizing him as he made it into the clearing. she stopped and hid herself and her horse behind a tree to watch. 

The knight dismounted and walked to the tower. She saw Historia stick her head out of the window, hearing the noise of his armor. 

“Rapunzel! Throw down your hair that I may rescue you from your prison!” Ymir smothered her snort, thinking ‘Rapunzel?’

“What is your name, sir?” she called down. 

“Sir Reiner of Barony Braun! I am one of your father’s knights!” Ymir’s mouth fell open. Historia was the fabled princess? 

“And why, pray tell, should I throw down my hair?” she asked. 

“So that I may carry you away to become your husband and prince!” he called. Ymir cocked an eyebrow while historia stared at him for a long moment. She pulled back from the window and Reiner began to grin, which was abruptly cut short when she slammed the shutters. Ymir smothered her snickers while Reiner dejectedly walked back to his horse. 

She waited a long moment before making her way to the tower and called to her lover to let her up. 

 

That evening she went to Kuchel’s small cottage on the outskirts of the city surrounding the palace. She confirmed that Historia was indeed the Princess Rapunzel that the stories spoke of, and that the men were supposed to be climbing the tower unassisted by Historia’s braid. Ymir thanked her for her time and rode off to the palace to make one last inquiry. 

 

Two days later Ymir rode up to the tower wearing hardened leather armor with thick leather gloves with metal fingers with matching boots. The king rode behind her, but stayed behind in the trees as she went to the tower, her stomach full of butterflies. 

She dismounted and walked over to the base of the tower. she noted that the tower was quite a bit taller when she wasn’t taking a rope or braid up. She took a deep breath and dug her fingers into gaps in the bricks and began to climb. 

Historia sat with Levi in the tower, chatting about the latest romance that Kuchel had brought her. Levi smiled as she gushed over it, both clueless to the fact that Historia’s lover was climbing up the side of the tower. 

Or, they were, until a brick fell out leaving her foot dangling and Ymir cried out. they both started and listened intently. Ymir tried to pull herself up so she could find a foothold, but the brick beneath her left hand crumbled and she fell again, supported only by her right hand. Her curses filled the air as she looked for another hand hold. 

Hisoria and Levi rushed to the window and looked down at the girl dangling by one hand, trying not to be bashed around by the wind. 

“Ymir!” Historia called, her voice cracking with fear. Ymir looked up for a split second at the princess before reaching for a handhold. Historia began to gather up her braid to toss down to her lover. 

“Ymir?” Levi asked, surprised. 

“Yes, that’s her name.” Historia snapped, throwing her braid out of the window. it flapped around in the wind, but ymir ignored it, insisting on climbing up the side. 

“Do you know who she is?” Levi asked, somewhat amused. 

“What are you talking about?” she demanded. 

“She’s a knight! The first female knight in the history of the kingdom!” Historia’s jaw dropped. 

“She is?” 

“Yes.” they looked down, and her trek took on a whole new meeting, especially when Levi pointed out the King hiding behind the tree line. 

“She’s trying to win my hand.” Historia said with a smile, her heart fluttering. Levi chuckled. 

“Hopefully she makes it up here.” He muttered. Historia held her braid, but it didn’t stop it from whipping about in the wind. Occasionally it would hit ymir and she’d wince. 

She was three quarters of the way up when the brick under her hand broke. since the other hand had been reaching up, she fell backward. Historia let out a cry which turned into a yelp when Ymir grabbed her braid on the way down. It yanked her hair and Ymir swung into the tower’s side. the wind and the weight began to saw the delicate strands of Historia’s briad against the rough bricks of the windowsill. Historia had planted her feet to keep the braid steady. 

Levi was calling down to Ymir, who was dazed from hitting her head against the side of the tower. Suddenly Historia stumbled, and Levi looked at the braid and blanched when he realized that part of it had been cut. He leaned out of the window and yelled for Ymir to snap out of it and to climb to safety. Historia stumbled again, more of the braid had cut off. she gave him a scared look as the last little it of hair began to snap. 

He rushed to the chest that held the rope and began to gather it up, but he didn’t make it in time. The last tille bit cut and yanked out of historia’s head. she stumbled to the ground and they heard Ymir cried out. Levi and Histria scrambled to the window to see Ymir reaching up to Historia, who screamed and leaned out of the window, hand outstretched. Levi wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her from falling out as Ymir crashed into the ground. 

Historia stared down at Her motionless love and began to shake. “No,” she whimpered, tears springing to her eyes. “No, no, no.” she sobbed, leaning into Levi’s chest. 

The king rode over to Ymir’s side and dismounted. He knelt by her side and held his fingers to her neck. Historia watched and felt her heart shattering as tears spilled from her eyes. 

the king suddenly backed away, and they saw her foot move. Historia gasped, and leaned out to look down, praying she hadn’t been imagining things. But then Ymir rolled onto her side and Historia began to laugh and cry simultaneously. The king looked up and motioned for Levi to come down. 

He tied off the rope and Historia held it as he shimmied down it. Historia watched as Levi helped Ymir onto her horse and spoke to the king. He nodded to them both and climbed back up the rope. 

“She’s fine, miraculously.” he told her, pulling himself onto the window sill. “and your father said that she was willing to face death for you, and so she may have your hand.” Historia beamed. the king gallopped away, but Ymir remained behind. “You’re to go back with her. don’t worry about your things. Mother and I will collect them later.” Historia nodded, happy beyond words. Levi reached into his boot and pulled out a knife, eyeing her hair, which still dragged on the ground. 

“Let’s do something about that hair.” they took a moment to unravel the braid and he took his knife ans sawed it off just below her shoulder blades. she watched as her iar fluttered into the wind and joined her long braid on the ground while Levi gave the rop one last strong tug. 

“I think it’s long past time I joined her.” Historia whispered excitedly. Levi laughed and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her out the window. She wrapped her arms around his neck before they slid down the rope. 

Once her bare feet touched the ground she pushed herself away from Levi and ran to her knight. Ymir smiled happily and helped Historia climb ont the saddle in front of her. Levi began the climb once again and Ymir pulled Historia into a long kiss, carressing her princess’s cheek. 

They came up for air after a moment and Ymir smiled down at her. 

“It’s time for our happily ever after.” she joked, and Historia nodded, wrapping her arms around Ymir’s neck. 

“It is.” she replied. they kissed once more before Ymir spurred her horse on and into the sunset, just as had happened in the books Historia had always loved.


End file.
